


Clawed

by wolfsrainrules



Series: Flicker Series [9]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: AKA: He gave himself claws, And is an insistent little bugger, Because Tsuna likes the idea of a weapon no one can take from him, Except for when he does., Gen, He then proceeded to make a deadly weapon, Hes NOT sharing, No one is happy when Tsuna gets kidnapped, They're his secret weapons, Tsuna ends up with Claws, Tsuna is a BAMF, Unconventional Uses for Dying Will Flames, Xanxus figured out how to break Sky Flames into the various Elements, Xanxus is a BAMF, which is a good thing because he is a Trouble Magnet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 03:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfsrainrules/pseuds/wolfsrainrules
Summary: When you were a street-rat, you were creative for survival. When you were a street-rat with access toFlamesyou had to be even more so. Xanxus was very much creative, and dangerous.And he had passed his 'claws' on to the Little Boss.





	Clawed

 

When on the streets people learned fast to fight hard and fight dirty. Especially the little ones.  
  
Xanxus had learned his ‘strike hard, strike fast’ policy the hard way. He’d learned to be absolutely relentless. To strike before the other guy had the chance to hurt him. On the street there was no medical attention and even if Xanxus had long ago learned his immune system was much stronger than everyone else’s he didn’t like to take chances by getting injuries that could get infected.  
  
It had been an accident the first time.  
  
He’d found out about the Fire when he went to save his mother. He’d been desperate and too little to do any true damage to the man, but that was his _mother_ and even then family had meant everything to the street rat that didn’t _have_ anything else. So when his hands had erupted into flames, Xanxus hadn’t hesitated to lunge at the man and _burn him into ash.  
  
_ From that moment on he had practiced with the Fire. He had learned that if he _really_ concentrated he could pull his orange-red fire into different colors. It took him a long while to figure out the different colors he could make- one for each of the rainbow.  
  
From there it had been a matter of playing with the various fires to figure out what they could do, and once he had managed that how to combine them to do different things.  
  
The claws were the work of _months_ , almost a full year, of playing with the fires and combining them.  
  
He would later learn exactly what he had done. He would learn of how he had separated his Sky Flames into each of its individual parts, of how he had then taken Sun Flames to make his nails grow, Mist Flames to create the claws to the shape and length he wished, Lightning Flames to harden them into dangerous dagger-like weapons, Storm Flames to help tear into whatever he wanted, and to disintegrate the claws back to normal nails when he was done. He’d also learned that if he coated the claws with Rain Flames he could knock people out, and that Cloud Flames would allow him to extend the length of his claws after they were formed.  
  
Of course at the time he had just known the Flames by their color and what he could do with them.  
  
Once he’d mastered forming the claws Xanxus had sat down to practice his speed in forming them. Over and over again, until he had managed to make them in a few seconds. As he grew and practiced the time it took would shorten until he managed in in just about one second. He wanted every advantage he could have on the streets.  
  
And then his mother had caught him playing with his original orange flame.  
  
And Xanxus was introduced to his ‘father.’ And what his flames actually were. Having actual knowledge of the flames and what they could do helped him with his claws, but Xanxus never actually used them in front of anyone.  
  
Call it an old habit from the streets- keeping an ace in the hole.  
  
It wasn’t like he _needed_ to most of the time. He had his Flames and his guns and his body not to mention the hundreds of other weapons at his disposal. So the claws were overkill. It didn’t stop Xanxus from practicing with them though. He didn’t want to get rusty with them if the day ever came where he needed them. (They’d saved his life and his mother’s life on the streets many, many times so Xanxus knew how dangerous they could be)  
  
He kept the claws his own little secret for years. His ace in the hole.  
  
And then the Brat happened.  
  
He hadn’t _meant_ to get attached to him. Hadn’t even though it would be a possibility- not after the Ring Battles. But Tsunayoshi Sawada reminded him _painfully_ of Federico. His beloved brother. And once the civilian brat got his head out of his ass and started _leading_ Xanxus saw a _good one_.  
  
(Which sort of pissed him off because he _wanted_ to hate the brat for taking what _should_ have been his brothers’ throne.)  
  
Add in the memories of the Future that Never Was, and Xanxus unexpectedly found himself attached to the little shit and invested in keeping him alive.  
  
Which meant these recent assassination attempts were _pissing him off_. They were actually why he was even in the mansion in the first place- discussing the Vongola security across the table from the brat.  
  
So when an assassin swung in through the window at Tsuna, Xanxus reacted purely on instinct since the man had to lunge past Xanxus to get to the brat.  
  
He never made it that far.  
  
Xanxus’ hand lashed out lightning quick, claws formed and sunk deep into the would-be-assassin’s throat before Xanxus even thought to pull his guns free.  
  
He ripped his claws free of the man’s throat with a snarl, instinctively backing Tsuna up to the corner and shifting so he was between the brat and the doors and windows. Even as he scanned the room and window he swore to figure out _how in the hell_ the bulletproof window had been broken so easily and flared his Flames threateningly.  
  
The claws disappeared, and he reached for his guns instead even as the office door flew open. He didn’t turn to threaten the person who entered only because he recognized the Flame signature as Squalo followed quickly by Levi and then the brat’s Rain.  “Assassins in the yard.” He growled the warning and command and his boys (And Takeshi) responded instantly even as the others in the house converged on Xanxus and Tsuna.  
  
In the end, if anyone had been with the initial assassin (and Xanxus was sure there had been) they fled before anyone could get ahold of them. Xanxus took control of security with his boys and Reborn immediately after the fact, dragging Tsuna alongside him as he worked both for opinions and to make sure he’d be close if another assassin tried anything.  
  
It was shortly after that was sorted that Tsunayoshi asked for Xanxus to teach him to make his own claws. Xanxus resisted at first just on principle, but Tsuna was determined and Xanxus wasn’t opposed to the brat having an emergency weapon if the need arose. The final straw however was when Tsuna asked him again, but this time his eyes were gleaming orange with the strength of his Intuition.  
  
Xanxus sat down and taught the brat. (He was glad Tsuna already knew how to pull his Sky Flame into the separate Flames that made it up and how to combine them. All that was left was to teach him _how_ to combine each Flame to get the claws as a result.)  
  
Two weeks after Tsuna had managed to consistently create his own claws, Xanxus was _glad_ he had sat down to teach him.  
  
When Xanxus found out **_who the fuck_** the traitor was he was going to **_string them up by their entrails_**.  
  
Until that time however, he had a little shit to find thanks to the traitor (may the fucker burn) leading Tsunayoshi into a trap.  
  
Xanxus had found the site of said trap, the signs of a fight that were all over the clearing in scorch marks and trenches, in the dead bodies’ ashes all over the ground. He’d also found Tsuna’s gloves. And blood.  
  
Xanxus _was not happy.  
  
_ He flexed his fingers.  
  
It was one of his tells. He could usually control them with pinpoint accuracy, but when Xanxus was truly, honestly pissed off, the finger-flexing was the thing that gave it away.  
  
It was him fighting the urge to pull up his claws and disembowel somebody.  
  
(The last time he’d actually had the tell show through was the day he’d found out a rapist had found his way onto Varia Territory- onto **_his_** territory- and thought he could get away with it. Xanxus had taken quite the bit of pleasure in using his claws to pierce through the man’s chest to rip out his still-beating heart and crush it with his bare hands in front of the man before his brain registered it was dead.)  
  
Xanxus gripped Tsunayoshi’s weapon tightly as he snarled to himself. He was going to make the traitors entrails into _streamers_ when he found them. And he was sure Lussuria would be willing to keep said traitor alive long enough that he could **_see_** his innards being used as decorations.  
  
(So he had issues with traitors. The Varia knew it and so did Tsuna and his family. It was common knowledge that Xanxus was the one to deal with traitors in regards to Vongola and the Varia. If someone was stupid enough to betray one of Xanxus’ Pride _anyway_ they deserved whatever he would do to them after.)     
  


* * *

  
Tsuna came awake sharply, alert instantly despite nothing giving him away.  
  
A quick self-check told him he had no Dying Will Pills and no gloves. It also made him very aware of the various injuries he had taken before he’d been overwhelmed. The bruises and scratches were nothing he wasn’t used to. It wasn’t even the knife he could feel buried in his arm. It was the deep would on his back that worried him.  
  
He couldn’t see how badly he was hurt, but if the many years he had spent under Reborn’s tender mercies mixed with the many fights he had participated in had taught him anything…it was how to know when a wound was bad news.  
  
The wound on his back was bad news.  
  
Tsuna stopped taking stock of himself to stretch his senses out around him. He could sense the guards around him. There were two- a Mist and a Storm- on the inside of the room with him, and he could sense another two- a Rain and a Lightning- outside the door. Further then that there were various Flame types throughout the hallway and a gathering of them two hallways away from his position.  
  
Tsuna pulled his attention back to himself. His hands and feet were bound, but whatever they had shot him with to collar his Flames had worn off. Tsuna made a point of maintaining his Flame patterns and levels consistently with what his captors expected of them while the drug was still in his system. (Even though he had been fighting earlier, Tsuna had tracked his Flames reactions to the drug from the moment it was introduced to his system to the moment he went down and mimicked them now. Tsuna owed the Varia a collection of the **_good_** stuff from Vongola Cellars when he got out for making that reaction second nature.)  
  
(Even if it _had_ taken a month of _letting_ the Varia sneak poisons, hallucinations, paralysis inducing drugs and whatever else they could squeeze in into his things to do it.)  
  
Hopefully it would keep them from dosing him again if they thought he was already drugged. In the meantime…he needed to get out. And he’d have to be _fast_ to manage it without letting the Storm and Mist guarding the inside of his cell alert anyone.  
  
Then he’d need to deal with the Rain and Lightning directly outside. Tsuna also made a note to trust his Intuition when it came to his surroundings as he considered the Mist inside the room. Mukuro and Mammon had the habit of changing his (and the other’s) surroundings anywhere from subtly to completely. It could be anything from effecting his depth perception _just so_ to putting a door somewhere there was none, or hiding a door that was there.  
  
He couldn’t trust his surroundings to be as they appeared when he got up.  
  


* * *

  
When the Mist and the Storm approach his resting place Tsuna decides it’s time. He had already dealt with the bindings on his hands, and he could work with the bindings on his feet. The Storm steps close, and Tsuna knows he’s about to be drugged again, but he lashes out lightning quick.  
  
His nails have shifted from blunt and human to curved and _wicked_ things mimicking Bester’s own claws.  
  
The Storm doesn’t even have time to inhale with shock as Tsuna’s claws slash across his neck. Tsuna doesn’t waste a moment, spinning around and using the table as a launching pad to lunge at the Mist he can sense. His eyes never open as he trusts his instincts to guide him properly. His claws sink into the Mist’s neck, cutting the vocal cords and preventing any noise even as Tsuna uses the Mist to slow his own momentum enough that he can land silently on the floor. As soon as his feet (still bound and Tsuna owes Reborn for training him to fight in this exact situation) touch the floor he jerks the Mist’s neck, snapping it effortlessly.  
  
He can feel the subtle thing that is Mist Flames disappear and knows he was right to trust his Intuition over his other senses at that moment.  
  
Tsuna opens his eyes and stares at the door stopping him from leaving the room. There are two card readers on either side, just out of arm reach of each other. He can tell that in order to open the door without setting off alarms, two cards need to be slid through at the same time.  
  
Tsuna frowns even as he reaches down to untie his feet.  
  


* * *

  
The next few minutes tell Tsuna he’s in a Flame Suppressing Cell. (He’s a bit flattered that he apparently warranted a Flame suppressing drug as _well_ as the Cell.) The combination of the drug and the cell make his Flames a bit sluggish, but usable. (Tsuna has never been so glad he’s such a _strong_ Sky).  
  
(It explains why it took him a few extra seconds to form his claws. He’s glad he formed them _before_ the Mist and Storm got too close.)  
  
Tsuna tilts his head, holding the two cards he needs to open the doors. He can’t reach the locks to slide them at the same time. He knows that. He needs another way to open the door.  
  
 _Tsuna_ Skull’s voice echoes in his mind as an old memory comes to the surface _Flames are Willpower and Belief. **That’s it.** To make your Flames do something you simply need to _ believe _that they can and then_ will it _. I’m a Cloud. Most people think ‘multiply’ when it comes to that and while that is true…I can multiply my strength, the processing speed of my brain, my cells…anything. Concepts and nonphysical things. It’s just a matter of_ will _and_ belief. _Alright?  
  
_ Tsuna still laughed when he thought about that lesson. Skull hadn’t been raised with the Mafia and Flames. He hadn’t been told what Clouds _were_ what Flames _could_ do. So he had experimented on his own and found some really out of the box ways to use his Flames on the world.  
  
He’d taught Tsuna to think that way.  
  
Tsuna began to build up a small amount of his Flames in his hands, pressing them into the walls. This would be difficult with the suppressant lacing the wall, but Tsuna _would_ make it work. He **_would_**.  
  
He was **_Harmony_**.  
  
He was _supposed to be there_. He was _a part of the wall_.  
  
His Flames inched closer to the locking mechanisms on his either side, slowly, cumbersome but steady. As he approached the locks, Tsuna smiled.  
  
His Flames sunk into the locks and Tsuna’s Will surged.  
  
 _He was the key. He was the key, the little pieces and bits that made the locks were twisting and unlocking in **Harmony**. Nothing was wrong. All was as it should be. The locks were unlocking in **Harmony** with the keys as they should.  
  
_ Tsuna’s grin was _predatory_ as he heard the door click and open.  
  
He pulled his Flames from the wall and the locks, rushing forward and out.  
  
The Rain fell quickly to Tsuna’s claws, and Tsuna threw him into the cell without pause. The Lightning spun around his mouth open to scream and Tsuna’s foot lashed out. He kicked the man in the chest, knocking the wind from his lungs and forcing him to exhale. In the next few seconds Tsuna shifted his weight and sunk his claws into the Lightning’s throat.  
  
That body joined the other three in his former cell.  
  
(Later Tsuna would mourn for the men and women he would be forced to kill to get out alive. Later. Right now Tsuna had a mission to complete and a family to return home to.)  
  
Tsuna leaned back, allowing a subtle amount of his Flames to cover his skin.  
  
 _I’m supposed to be here. It’s alright. Don’t look twice. I belong exactly where I am.  
  
_ As soon as the effects took place Tsuna slid through the shadows down the hallway. His subtle use of Flames would only work on Elements that didn’t have a Sky, and those that had a strong will would be able to shake off the subtle application of Harmony.  
  
Tsuna hoped to avoid as many confrontations as he could. He was tired and still felt a bit _off_ from whatever drug was in his system not to mention the various wounds- namely that wound on his back. It was only his strength both in Will and his Flames that allowed him to move now.    
  
He needed to get home.  
  


* * *

 

   
Xanxus was **_furious_**.  
  
His boys were rushing around like a disturbed hornet’s nest as they searched for the Little Boss. It had taken years of awkward clashing and struggle to reach a point where they knew where they stood with each other. It took years for the Varia and the Tenth Generation of Vongola to become **_One Family_** but they _were_ One now and a **_traitor_** had led one of their own into a trap.  
  
They were **_all_** furious.  
  
And the traitor had yet to be found which only made it worse.  
  
Xanxus snarled as he prowled forward.  
  
The traitor would talk one way or another. Xanxus would make sure of it.  
  
He had family to find.

 

* * *

  
Tsuna was wavering on his feet.  
  
Stubborn will and bullheadedness could only get him so far when it came to blood loss. And that wound on his back was bleeding too much. (Not that he had left any trace of that in his wake- Tsuna had been burning the blood off his body before it hit the floor.)  
  
He just needed to get _out_.  
  
He didn’t need to make it far, Tsuna knew. He just had to get out of the Flame Suppressant and the tracking devices he _knew_ were on his person would let his family know where he was. (So Reborn was paranoid and talked him into tracking devices. Xanxus had agreed and Tsuna was glad now.)  
  
The more obvious ones were gone, but Tsuna knew the one in his shoe’s heel was still there, and so was the one in his earring. (It was an onyx stud earring given to him by Reborn. No one ever thought about the jewelry beyond necklaces.)  
  


* * *

  
Xanxus stilled as his phone rang. He pulled it out, noticing it was Levi and answering “Xanxus.”  
  
“Boss.” His Lightning greeted him “I’ve got a hit on the Little Boss. At least two of his trackers are working and he’s just exited whatever was blocking their signal.”  
  
Xanxus’ Flames flared and his instincts _purred_.  
  
 _Something he could **track**_.  
  
“ _Where?”_ if his voice was a little guttural, Levi didn’t say anything, handing over the requested information easily.  
  
Xanxus wasn’t sure if it was confidence or stupidity that had the brat’s kidnappers keeping him close by. The Cub was only five minutes away from Xanxus’ current position. (Granted Xanxus was searching for the Brat, had been following his Intuition- not the Vongola Intuition but honed around it- and _was_ in fact four hours away from the clearing where Tsuna was taken. Four hours and five minutes away from the site of the crime was _not_ far enough to escape from Tsuna’s family.) That was alright though. Xanxus would be sure to…inform… them of their stupid mistake.   
  
Xanxus took his guns from their places, flying from his place towards the address Levi had given him. It would be quicker, and his guns would already be free to shoot the **_scum_** that had taken his cub.  
  
Win-Win.  
  


* * *

  
Tsuna laughed.  
  
He’d made it out. It didn’t matter that he was surrounded by enemies, that his little trick of blending with her surroundings hadn’t lasted, that he was fighting and bleeding, and so tired.  
  
 ** _He’d gotten out_**.  
  
All he had to do now was wait. (Not that he wouldn’t fight to get out himself, but now he _knew_ his family would come to him. And with how possessive Xanxus and Reborn- who had habits of taking command when he was in situations like this- were on their own, not to mention his Guardians, Tsuna had money on it taking less than a day.)  
  
He twisted sharply to avoid a hit to the back, lashing out with the claws Xanxus had taught him to use and not watching as the man collapsed. He ignored the multiple bodies on the ground that had suffered the same fate, and he tried to not think about that reinforcements pouring out of the place that had held him captive now that they knew he was out.  
  
He’d fight until he collapsed.  
  
Or he was dead.  
  
He’d never stop fighting to get to his family.  
  


* * *

  
Xanxus arrived to the sight chaos.  
  
  
He spotted his cub easily at the center of it all.  
  
He snarled at the sight of blood, but he took a moment to be proud of Tsuna whirling through the crowds with the claws Xanxus had taught him to make slashing through everyone in his way. He could see the brat was flagging, however, and as Tsuna staggered sideways in a sloppy dodge, Xanxus cut the flow of Flames to his guns and _dropped_.  
  


* * *

  
Tsuna staggered sideways, knowing he was approaching his limit, but determined to keep going.  
  
He was not the only one surprised when **_Xanxus_** dropped from the air and landed in a crouch in front of him.  
  
As the Varia Boss straightened back up, every movement was the fluid grace of an apex predator on the hunt. Of an Alpha Lion defending his Pride.  
  
The enemies sensed that, and stepped back.  
  
It didn’t do them any good.  
  
Xanxus lifted his gun, his aim flawless, and the last thing the 20 men in the line of fire heard was a snarled **_“Scum.”  
  
_** They were the lucky ones.  
  
Xanxus was pissed on of his own had been taken, and as the claws formed on his hands Tsuna knew the Family that had taken him from Xanxus was about to find out exactly ****_why_ taking the Varia Boss’ family was a bad idea.

**Author's Note:**

> This one was a thought shared by Selene Dreamwalker that I liked and it kind of got away with me.


End file.
